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Topic: Canadian Thanksgiving. (Read 14166 times)

It's so confusing, with both countries having identically-named celebrations so many weeks apart. Since we're Canadian, my husband refers to the holiday of our neighbours from the south as "Yanksgiving" (tongue-in-cheek and not intended to be offensive) to differentiate. It doesn't help that my brother married an American and, alas, this means that there is yet another major holiday dinner to attend with food that tends to be far too calorific. I have a hard enough time with my weight as it is, but once October hits, I'm tempted to just throw my hands in the air and give up--if I didn't know that I would pay for it in the end.

This year it's my turn to host our family Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. Since neither my mother-in-law nor I eat turkey, this means that I'll only have to have enough of that to feed seven--two of them small children who are fussy about their food at the best of times. (My son will make up for it. Puberty--the whirlwind that empties the fridge!) I'll just get a stuffed turkey breast, because with mashed potatoes, dressing, orange jellied salad, cranberry sauce, three kinds of vegetables (including brussels sprouts, of course!), green salad and several kinds of bread and rolls... I'm not even certain that anyone will make it to the pumpkin pie stage! (Except my nephews. The elder will loudly proclaim the rest of the meal as "gross" and then demand to be served dessert when the rest of us have just sat down to begin eating. I think I've mentioned my demon-spawn nephew on the Special Snowflake thread before... seven years old, going on two. <sigh> )

About the US Thanksgiving--roughly half of the original 102 Pilgrims died the first year, most of them during the winter. They landed in Plymouth in November, and had to quickly devise shelters--winters can be cold in Massachusetts.

The first Thanksgiving was held more or less a year after they landed, to celebrate their surviving a year and the fact that they had managed to grow and catch enough food to last for the coming winter. They invited the Native Americans who had basically taught them survival skills to join them for the celebration, which lasted three days.

American Thanksgiving was originally a celebration of harvest and survival (for those who were surviving). Lincoln actually proclaimed a specific day of Thanksgiving to promote national unity during the Civil War so in the US the history of Thanksgiving is not anything you'd think would make people thankful (but maybe that is the point).

Canadian Thanksgiving in more modern times is to celebrate the end of Harvest. Since the growing season in Canada is shorter than that of the US, ours is earlier, which ties in with the Harvest Festival. We had no Pilgrims and don't have the same historical foundation of Thanksgiving that Americans do. Our histories are very different.

I made my stuffing and cranberry sauce earlier in the week and they are in the freezer. Made Mashed potatoes, turnips/brown sugar/apples and broccoli/cauliflower au gratin today. In our circle, turnips/rutabagas are a staple at Thanksgiving and Xmas dinners.

Korea has their own Thanksgiving called Chu Seok. They take the weekend to visit their deceased relatives graves in their hometowns. They also have traditional meals they eat... if they can make it through the traffic.

The last few years, Thanksgiving dinner has been a true harvest festival for my family, as most of the vegetables came from family gardens. This year, the carrots came from my brother's garden, some of the beets and rutabagas came from mine, as well as the Brussel sprouts. The rest of the beets came from my CSA farm. Usually I'd have a rutabaga from them, too, but didn't get one this week. Other years, the potatoes have been from my brother's garden but we had to buy them this year. The pumpkins used for the pumpkin pie came from the CSA farm, too.

(We had our dinner last night so my Dad and I wouldn't have to drive in Monday's traffic.)

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After cleaning out my Dad's house, I have this advice: If you haven't used it in a year, throw it out!!!!.

We just had ours yesterday with 18 people (family work schedules)- we had:

Turkey (used Alton Brown's brine)Ham- I made a pineapple-spice glaze that was a HUGE hitPeas and corn (with as a PP said, just salt and butter)Mashed potatoes, wild rice, and roast root veggiescornbread stuffingtomato and cucumber saladPumpkin and blueberry pies, and berry jello trifle

99 percent of the time we have perogies and bacon too (super common here for holidays), but I didn't have the energy to do another main dish this year, so my sis made mashed potatoes instead.

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My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world. ~ Jack Layton.

The last few years, Thanksgiving dinner has been a true harvest festival for my family, as most of the vegetables came from family gardens. This year, the carrots came from my brother's garden, some of the beets and rutabagas came from mine, as well as the Brussel sprouts. The rest of the beets came from my CSA farm. Usually I'd have a rutabaga from them, too, but didn't get one this week. Other years, the potatoes have been from my brother's garden but we had to buy them this year. The pumpkins used for the pumpkin pie came from the CSA farm, too.

(We had our dinner last night so my Dad and I wouldn't have to drive in Monday's traffic.)

My mom always did her dinner on Sunday b/c she worked and didn't want to come home to a mess on Tuesday. I do the same. I had mine on Sunday night for 10 people. I vegged all day yesterday and just started my clean up today! It is ALOT of work!

It's so confusing, with both countries having identically-named celebrations so many weeks apart. Since we're Canadian, my husband refers to the holiday of our neighbours from the south as "Yanksgiving" (tongue-in-cheek and not intended to be offensive) to differentiate.

<snip>

I'm in the US and back in October I told my coworkers I was going up to Canada for "Canadian Thanksgiving" with my in-laws. One of my coworkers said, "Huh, do they really call it that?" I said "well, no, they just call it Thanksgiving."